Any Experience Building Funeral Pyres?

[John O.]

I know this is a very odd question but my cat Sonic is probably near death, he's almost 20 years old and suffering from a lot of age ailments. He's been the most incredible pet I've ever had, had him since he was about 1, and he was one hell of a fierce little bastard until he hit about 15. He always struck me as something of a warrior, so I want to send him off appropriately. He's not dead yet, but I have a feeling this could be something of an involved undertaking, so I want to be prepared.

I've been doing a lot of reading about open burning funeral pyres but to be honest there just isn't much out there. It's still done in Hindu and Buddhist rituals but it's illegal in the U.K. and legal in the U.S., restricted under local burning laws.

Other than a recent article about an official place in Colorado that does it, there is very little information other than the textbook description of how you build it. I will probably end up pouring a concrete base and following the instructions I've found online and using some common sense, but I was wondering if anyone here might have ever done this before.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2226696_build-funeral-pyre.html

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Sorry to hear about Sonic

 

[Itisnotlogical]

That's very sad about Sonic. I'm a cat lover too and I can't bear the thought of my Enzo dying; it just doesn't seem possible.

I have no experience in building a funeral pyre, but judging from pictures that I've seen, it's actually structured similar to a tower of Jenga blocks, just stretching more horizontally than vertically. Sometimes it's covered in oil to aid the burning.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

aw, I'm sorry about Sonic. What a sweet tribute to him.

Please give him a gentle squishy hug from me.

 

[John O.]

Thanks! Here's a rather regal looking pic of him before he went blind... but he looks good for 18 doesn't he!

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Thanks! Here's a rather regal looking pic of him before he went blind... but he looks good for 18 doesn't he!

Verily, he doth have a warrior's mien.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

What a great looking cat!

 

[JiNX-01]

So sorry about your friend. I've lost pets after many years of companionship so I know how hard it is to face their end. When one of my cats had to be put to sleep, my veterinarian arranged for creamation.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I'm so sorry to hear that your companion is in decline. I hope his passing is peaceful and among friends. As someone with a few corpuscles of Viking blood in his veins, I find your idea for a funeral pyre touching and appropriate. What will you do with the remains?

 

[John O.]

We buried our cocker spaniel about 2 years ago in the garden - bought a child's coffin from a local morturary and buried her with her favorite blanket, that sort of thing. She was also very old, about 17. The two of them were very close, we kind of consider them of the same 'generation'. Since then we have gotten two new pets, a cat called Jack who's about 5 and a shih-tzu called Socrates who is about 3, so they're kind of the 2nd generation... so Sonic is like the old man who won't give up he's great. He only recently became docile (like... around the time he was about 14) when we got him neutered.

The warrior thing for Sonic is also because of how rough and tumble he's always been. When we first adopted him he was an outdoor cat, very cagey, almost never came inside, just came up to the porch. Over the years he gradually adjusted to us and became our cat, but he regularly would show up with dead birds, squirrels, rabbits, that sort of thing. We're pretty sure he actually killed a neighbor's cat at the old house. Our neighbor next door tells a story about how one night he was up using the bathroom at about 2 am when he heard a fox braying in our back yard, looked out the window and saw Sonic and the Fox screaching at each other about 15 ft apart, low crouched as they paced a half circle perimeter around the back porch - Sonic's way of saying "GTFO my house!" The vet told us when we first took him that he nearly took off his own hand trying to get the needle into his skin, that he had the toughest skin of a cat he's ever tried to take blood from. Then there was an incident where he got into a fight and got bitten on the throat and at this point he was still a little antisocial, so he never let us like pick him up and inspect him, but one day we noticed he was starting to smell (and we didn't know about the fight), so finally I got close enough to check ti out, and he had this gaping hole in this throat where a wound had burst open from infection. It must have been half an inch wide and 2 inches long, could totally see his trachea. Vet was amazed he was alive when we got him down there to get stitched up.

He's doing pretty good at the moment, but maintaining his weight can be difficult, he's got very bad dementia (he walks in circles, brays in the hallway sometimes until you show him where his cat box is, that sort of thing - mostly cuz he's blind), and the vet said he detected a heart murmur on his last checkup, so we just want to be ready.

Where we buried the cocker there is a bronze statue of a cocker spaniel to commemorate her, so I thought we would collect Sonic's ashes, dig a little moat around Generra's headstone and bury them with her.

Oh and ditto on the tiny bit of Celtic blood! My dad's side is Scottish/Irish and my mom's is Germanic and I'm about as Aryan looking as they come so I'm figuring there's some in there somewhere!